[MUD-Dev] code base inquiry

[Ben Greear]

Travis Casey wrote:

> Now, let's say that I write a codebase and distribute it under the
> GPL.  You then modify my codebase and start distributing your modified
> version.  I then decide to stop using the GPL and make my codebase
> commercial.  I still own copyright on the code you're using -- and
> hence, can legally revoke your right to distribute it.  Now, you
> *might* be able to still distribute the code you wrote, but you
> can't distribute any part of the codebase that you didn't modify.  And
> even if you modified all of it, it might still count as a derivative
> work, in which case you wouldn't be able to distribute it without my
> permission.

I don't believe you are correct here.  You can change the license on
any new distributions of your old code, but you can't bring back
proprietary ownership of those old releases released under the GPL.

I haven't read the GPL lately, so I could be wrong...

> original code creators from doing so.  (Of course, in the present
> environment, most, or at least many, people releasing code under the GPL
> are borrowing some code that ultimately comes from Gnu itself.  Thus,
> this isn't much of an issue at the moment.)

Linking libraries (from the LGPL license) does in no way bind you to a
particular license, so I don't see why many MUDs would be bound by any
GPL code...


--
Ben Greear (greear at cyberhighway.net)  http://scry.wanfear.com/~greear 
Author of ScryMUD:  scry.wanfear.com 4444        (Released under GPL)
http://scry.wanfear.com



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